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A Venezuelan woman and child at Rondon 1, one of 11 migrant camps in Boa Vista, capital of Roraima state, Brazil

Mon 24 Dec 2018 03.00 EST

Every day about 700 Venezuelan migrants,
fleeing political and economic crisis, cross the border into Brazil, most arriving in Boa Vista, the capital of north-western Roraima state. Rondon 1 is one of 11 camps for migrants and opened in the city in July. It accommodates about 750 people, including families and women on their own, and is run by the Brazilian army in partnership with the UN and NGOs, and coordinated by the Italian AVSI Foundation. Migrants are able to come and go during the daytime and can spend up to seven days away from the shelter

The shelters in Boa Vista are unlike typical refugee camps. Jeff Wilkinson, head of the UN field office, says: ‘This is a very unusual situation. We are in the middle of a city where all around us people are going on with their normal lives. Not everyone here falls within the classic definition of a refugee. The profile of the Venezuelans
here is really varied; there are people fleeing political persecution and many people fleeing hunger. There are many professionals among them’

Robert Antonio Rodriguez, 25

‘I left Venezuela because of political persecution. I’m a member of the Justice Party (MPJ) and have been imprisoned four times. After the last time we left for our protection. I’m not the only one getting death threats, it happens everywhere. I will only go back if there is a political amnesty. I came from the far north-west of Venezuela with my wife and child. We have been in Boa Vista since July 2017 and need to move on; 90% of us here are professionals who want to work. We don’t want to be supported. As a people, we are hard-working and want our independence’

One of the main logistical problems for the Brazilian army has been providing 11,000 meals
every day for migrants at the city shelters. Tensions occasionally flare in the long queues for food, says Heli Mansur, of AVSI, which coordinates the humanitarian work of the shelters. Before the shelters opened, many more migrants were living on the streets of Boa Vista, leading to friction with local people

Angela, Edgar and Angel, six

Angela Carolina Salazar, 29: ‘My husband sold his car and came before us. He picked up odd jobs and sent us money in El Tigre and we got to Brazil in May. Everything was decaying in Venezuela. It was too expensive to buy corn and we couldn’t get yuca. To buy a chicken cost a month’s wages. For a while we ate nothing but mangoes.’
Edgar Jose Eduardo Carvajal, 27: ‘It’s very complicated here. Some Brazilians are welcoming but others don’t want us to take the jobs and so there is discrimination. If they hear Spanish, they tell you to get lost. All we want is to work’

Venezuelans can get a work permit in Brazil and some go back and forth to help relatives at home, says Mansur. But Boa Vista – which has a population of almost 280,000 and where the public sector is the main employer – can’t absorb thousands of new arrivals. The foundation helps migrants relocate voluntarily to other states where there are more employment opportunities, and recently arranged for 30 migrants to resettle in Salvador, with jobs at a soft drinks factory

Jeff Wilkinson of the UN says: ‘We see a lot of family separations here as people come on alone from Venezuela when they don’t have the resources to bring everyone at once. This puts a strain on everyone. They are concerned about the family members left behind.’ He said that family groups are also atypical, with aunts and cousins coming together, for example. The shelters are organised to accommodate specific groups separately, such as single women, families or couples

Angelica Inojosa, 44

‘I came to Brazil because the political situation in Venezuela was intolerable. I used to be in the army and had to leave because I didn’t back the government. I joined the NUVIPA (New Vision for my Country) party and demonstrated against [President] Maduro. They threatened me and they kidnapped one of my sons, who was in the military academy. I think they wanted to kill him but they let him go. His godfather, who was also in the army, has disappeared. I also had a farm but it became impossible because of the taxes they took from us. We’ve suffered a lot, it’s really hard’

Some migrants arrive in Brazil with manageable health conditions that have worsened because of the shortage of medicine in Venezuela, says Wilkinson, recalling the case of a boy with cancer who had not received treatment for four months. The psychological limbo of their situation is taking a heavy toll on people’s mental health too, causing aggression and depression, and sometimes domestic violence, say staff at the shelter

Marli Seth, 39

‘I taught English in Venezuela and I left because I needed two types of malarial treatment and there wasn’t any medicine. The medicine you get in my country is whatever they happen to have. On the way here some other Venezuelans stole everything I had and I arrived in just the clothes I am standing up in. The reality is that we arrive here sick and hungry and the Brazilians try to help. They are under no obligation to help us and we can’t demand it’

A family at the Rondon 2 camp, which opened in August and houses about 600 people. Migrants stay at this shelter before they are relocated to other states in Brazil. Maintaining a steady flow of people in and out of Boa Vista is crucial, says Francesco Dagostino, of AVSI. ‘They have the idea that they must be on the move to re-establish their lives. They don’t want to be stuck.’ In recent months the relocation process has slowed, he says, creating a build-up of people at the shelters and on the streets

Argenio Velasquez, 30

‘I came here a few months ago with my wife and two children. Like a lot of people, we left Venezuela for our survival – we had nothing to eat. I want to find another job but I know that other people here need to be relocated more urgently and are more desperate, so we can wait here until God decides. I’m involved with the cleaning committee at the camp, just trying to make things run more smoothly’

Brazil is bound by international treaties to keep its border open but there is still uncertainty among those on the move, says Dagostino. Earlier this year
the border was shut temporarily and there were reports that an indigenous group in Brazil had blocked the crossing of their land. In January, Brazil will get a new government, raising questions over future handling of the migration crisis

Dagostino says: ‘Most of the Brazilians here near the border have been used to living alongside Venezuelans for years but the huge influx has changed the perspective. They are neighbours but there are cultural differences, including language and food. There are not as many migrants from Venezuela in Brazil as elsewhere, for example Colombia. But people keep coming and again we have a huge number of people living on the streets because we can’t house everyone here if we are unable to move them on’

Since Brazil offers asylum or temporary residence and access to healthcare, there is no reason for migrants to enter illegally. Even so, their arrival has brought social tension in Boa Vista, where many more were living rough before the shelters opened this year. In some cases local people destroyed makeshift shelters. Wilkinson says: ‘What you often hear is; “I feel humiliated. I used to have a good life. I never lived on the street.” Brazil is a very welcoming country but sometimes the Venezuelans encounter negative attitudes’